Gaming: Male characters speak 'twice as much a female' in role-play games

Male characters in role-playing video games have double the amount of speech than females characters have.

That's according to a study by researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Cardiff, highlighting a "stark gender imbalance" in gaming.

As part of their research, they analysed the spoken words of characters in 50 role-play games released over a 34-year period, from 1986 to 2020.

After listening to 6.2 million spoken words by 13,000 characters, the results suggested that 94% of the games studied had more examples of male characters speaking than female ones.

Female characters were found to speak much less often

For the study, the researchers obtained the transcripts of dialogue used in the games and identified which character said what.

Dr Sean Roberts, from Cardiff University, said by categorising the gender of each character, they had been able to count "how many words were available for each gender in each game".

In doing so, they wanted to "compare the number of words spoken by female characters to the number of words spoken by male characters".

The results were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Why do female video game characters speak less than male characters?

The amount female characters spoke also varied a lot in different games - from just 6% in some to 80% in others.

But the researchers found that on average just 35% of words - just over a third - were spoken by female characters.

This was also the case when the game had more than one female character.

The study also said that in some games the characters responded differently depending on the player character's gender.

For example female characters were offered a salad, and repeatedly described as beautiful by other characters and assumed to have little experience of video games.

In contrast, male players had been offered pasta, described as "full of energy" and were assumed to be good video game players.

The research also found that when female characters did speak they were more likely to apologise, hesitate or be polite, compared with males.

Has the amount of speech by female characters increased over time?

The researchers found that the amount of speech from female characters has risen over time - although it still represented less than half of overall speech.

The rate had risen from 18% in the 1980s to 40% by 2020, rising by roughly six percent each decade.

If this rate were to continue, a gender balance would not be reached until 2036.

There were also signs of a lack of representation in games, with only 30 out of 13,000 characters belonging to the non-binary gender categories - which as half as many as in real life.

What have the researchers said about the results?

Male characters were often given a more 'active' role

Dr Stephanie Rennick, from the University of Glasgow, said she had been surprised at the extent of the difference between male and female characters.

She said: "While we expected to find a larger proportion of male dialogue overall, we were surprised to discover how few games - just three of 50 - had more than 50% female dialogue.

"I was also surprised that the lack of female characters compared to their male counterparts persisted at every level, from main player characters through to background NPCs (non-player characters)."

Dr Sean Roberts said this current situation needs to change and hopes game developers will pay attention to the research when designing new games in the future.

He added: "We hope that developers will consider addressing the imbalances we found in order to create more inclusive games."If you play role-play video games let us know about your experiences too. Do you choose a male or female character, and do you find female characters speak less in the games you play?